Internal combustion engine



" Oct. 9, 1945. R M. HEINTZ INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 8, 1943 uvmvrozi Pap/1 M. bE/NTZ.

' R. M. HEINTZ IfiTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Oct. 9, 1945.

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 8, 194:;

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IXTERNAL-GOMBUSTION ENGINE Filed May a, 1943 5 Sheets-Shea! lllil llll" lllll mmvrozc Rap M Ha/vrz.

Oct. 9, 194 5. v R. M. HEINTZ 2,385,507 I INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE I Filed May 8, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR- R44 PH M HEM/T2:

. case end of its stroke, andv Patented Oct. 9, 1945 I PATENT mm INTERNAL CQMBUSTION ENGINE Ralph M. Helntz, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor', by

mesne assignments, to Jack &

Heintz, Inc.,

Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 8, 19 43, Serial No. 486,265

This invention relates improvements in in-' temal combustion engines of the four stroke cycle typ from crankcase compression. An additional object is to provide anov'el rotating sleeve valve arrangement'i'or an internal combustion engine, enabling better cylinder head and combustion chamber design.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the-art as the description proceeds in connectionwith the accompanying drawings in which: I

Figure 1 is a sectional view takenlongitudinally through the cylinders the principles of the invention,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken 2-2 of Figure 1-, y

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line H of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a sectional view through another on the line embodiment; showing the pistons in their extreme 8 the other piston will have moved a similar distance inwardly so as-to place the charge in the outward positions,

Figures 5 and 6 are sectional views taken on the lines 5-! and 8-1 of Figure 4 respectively,

Figure! is a view taken on the line 1-1 of Figure 4 but showing the piston atthe crank- Figure 8 is a fragmentary view taken as Figure 1, but with the parts in inFigure 4.

,The embodiment oi the invention illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 has two opposed cylinders 1 and 2 arranged on opposite sides of a central crankcase 8. Each cylinder contains a rotating sleeve valve 4 having exhaust ports 8- and intake ports I adapted to cooperate'with' exhaust, ports I and inlet ports 8 in the cylinder, The lower end of eachsleeve. may be provided with a ring gear 2 driven by short shafts II and -II from the engine crankshaft i2. The crankshaft I2 is carried in bearings "and I4 and has two crank throws II and I! for the connecting rods I! on the pistons ll. The crank throw I lincludes a disc If having a segment 20 cutout to uncover the end of an inlet passage 2| con-. nected with a pipe 22 leadingto acarburetor 23 in the case of a c'arbureted, engine. In a fuel injection engine the pipe 22 would or course lead the two cylinders of an engine embodying ports. they are'wide V 28 space in the cylinder is placed in communication the same positions as 5 Claims.- (Cl. 123'-56) tothe atmosphere instead of a carburetor. The end of the intake passage 2| is covered by the disc l9 except during that portion of the crankshaft revolution when the pistons are moving outwardly to admit a fresh charge,,at which time the-opening 20 will have uncovered the end of the intake passage-.

The crankshaft throws l5 and l8 are arranged at a relative angle of 180 degrees so that the two pistons move outwardly and inwardly in unison, the timing being such that the two cylinders fire on alternate strokes. As the two pistons move outwardly the opening 20 uncovers the i inlet passage 2| to draw in a fresh charge, the

crankcase being otherwise closed to the atmosphere. Assuming that-one of the pistons I8 is about ready to move do n on its cylinder suction stroke, the timing of the sleeve ,4 will be such as to close the exhaust ports '1 and open intake ports 8. As the piston" progresses in its cylinder suction stroke the exhaust ports remain closed and the inlet ports continue to open, so that when the top of the pistons clears the top of the inlet open and the combustion with the interior of the crankcase by way of passageway 24. It will be noted that by the time one piston has started to uncover theinlet ports crankcase under considerable pressure before it is admitted to the cylinder whose intake ports are open. one piston as described,- the other piston has been making a power stroke with its inlet valve closed so that at the time the. piston which is on its cylinder suction stroke uncovers its inlet ports only the one cylinder receivesa charge from the crankcase. After the said suction stroke the" a piston then proceeds back on its cylinder compression' stroke closing of! the inlet ports and compressing the charge until the point of ignition, the exhaust ports remaining closed. During the power stroke the sleeve 4 maintains both the exhaust and inlet ports closed, the exhaust ports being an ently opened for the exhaust stroke. At the completion of the exhaust stroke and at the beginning of the cylinder suction stroke the exhaust ports 8 are closed and the cycle is repeated.

It will be seen that the compressive eflect of the inward strokes of both pistons towards the crankcase are eiiective to compress the chute in the crankcase to supply a single cylinder, since During the cylinder suction stroke of are supplied on alternate 1 be required between the disc- I9 and the inlet strokes. In this manner a marked supercharging effect is obtained, the crankcase pressure being raised considerably above what would be obtained by the. action of a single piston asin a two cycle engine.

Various numbers of exhaust ports may be employed, four'being shown in the embodiment of Figures 1,2 and 3, the width of the ports and the width of the wall portions between the ports being suitably proportioned to produce the desired type of engine indicator diagram. It will be seen then, that with four exhaust ports for a four cycle engine each sle :ve should rotate 90 degrees from one exhaust to tne next, or should make one revolution for eight revolutions of the crankshaft, the sleeves in the two cylinders being timed for alternate firing. That is to say that when one piston moves-down .on its cylinder suction stroke, the other piston is moving down on its power stroke and vice versa.

The inlet ports are also four in number and are arranged to be closed by the sleeve 4 during the lower part of the power stroke, and should be at least substantially fully open as long as they are uncovered by the pistons on the cylinder suction strokes.

Either fewer or more than four exhaust and inlet ports may obviouslybe used, the size and spacing of the ports being governed by the above considerations to produce the described functions. It is of course appreciated that increasing the number of ports reduces the speed'at which the sleeves must rotate since if there was only one port the sleeve would be required to make a complete-revolution for every two revolutions of the crankshaft.

The engine constructed according to the present'inventicn is intended to be of relatively high speed wherein a strictly gas tight seal will not passage 2| toestablish the desired crankcase pressure. If the invention is applied to low speed engines a resilientdisc or other expedient may be embodied in the disc I 3 to efl'ect a better seal with the'opening in the inlet passage 2I to prevent loss of pressure from the crankcase back to the atmosphere.

Figures 4 to 8 illustrate a further embodiment attaining a greater supercharging effect from crankcase compression. In this embodiment there are cylinders I" and I02 connectedwith a crankcase I03, and rotarysleeve valves I04 in the cylinders. The cylinders are provided with exhaust ports I05, and a double set of inlet ports I00 and III! connected by curved inlet passages I03. The sleeve valves I04 have exhaust ports I03 adapted to register with the cylinder exhaust ports I 05 in one position of the sleeve, and .a double set of inlet ports H0 and III adapted to register with the cylinder inlet ports I00 and I01 in another position of the sleeve, the lower end of the sleeve being provided with a ring gear II2 for'rotation'. p

Bearings I20 and I2I in the crankcase carry a crankshaft I22 having crank throws I23 and. I24 connected with pistons I25 and I20. Openings I21 in-the piston skirts are aligned with the lower set of cylinder inlet ports I00 and are adapted to communicate with these ports when the pistons reach the ends of their cylinder suction strokes. Adjacent the bearing I2I is a crankcase inlet port I30 connected with an inlet-passage I3I leading from a carburetor I32 in the case of a carbureted engine. In a fuel injection engine the passage I3I. would lead directly to the s0 positioned. With fuel assaeov are shaped to close off the ends of the crankcase close to the crank throws to keep the crankcase volume as small as possible so that the charge admitted to the crankcase by suction when the pistons are moving outwardly will be compressed .to a pressure of several atmospheres when the pistons move inwardly. By operating the engine at -a relatively high speed. and by allowing very.

little clearance between the disc I33 and the part I30, crankcase pressure having a, satisfactory supercharging effect for high altitude operation are obtained. The present engine has particular utility for driving a large aircraft generator which may be secured on the flange bolts III for direct drive by the internally splined end I38 of the crankshaft.

The rotary sleeve valves I04 are preferably driven in opposite directions by' a shaft I40 through idler gears I4I, I42, and I43 as shown in Figures 5 and 6. It will be noted that for four stroke cycle operation the speed of rotation of the sleeves I04 will always be less than the speed of the crankshaft. In the embodiment shown in Figures 4' to 8 the sleeves I04 have six ports in each set, requiring a rotational speed of onetwelfth crankshaft speed. The width and spacing of the ports are determined by the amount of overtravel and other practical considerations involved in producing a desired type Of engine cycle. In the case of the inlet ports I 06 and M1 it is desirable to have them at least ubstantially fully open during the time the piston has any part of ports I00 uncovered. This requires that ports I06 and I0! be opened during the downward motion (with respect to the cylinder head) of the piston on the cylinder suction stroke, and that the closing of these ports be accomplished during the cylinder compression stroke after the piston has passed the ports in its upward travel.

The cylinders have cylinder heads I 45 with sealing rings I46 bearing against the upper ends of-sleeve valves I04. The cylinder heads I45 have central portions extending within the cylinders and sleeves to provide in each cylinder a circular combustion chamber having an unrestricted lower surface contour established by the shape of the piston head and having a substantially unrestricted upper surface contour established by the shape of the lower or inner surface of the cylinder head whereby the determination and selection of the shape and volume of the combustion chamber is capable of practically unlimited variation without-regard to valve areas and clearances. In this manner, since there are no poppet valves, an ideal shape of combustion chamber, such as sphericalor near spherical, may be achieved, and be made as small as desired for high compression ratios. With spark ignition the spark gap may be positioned at the center of such a combustion chamber, which is highly desirable, and with fuel injection and compression ignition the injector nozzle may be injection and spark ignition the injector nozzle be positioned as desired without conflicting with valve requirements. An important advantage of the present construction is its inherent adaptability to both typesof fuel injection engines. Adjacent each cylinder head an annular exand spark plug may haust stroke, the exhaust ports I05 being practically closed and intake ports I06 and I01 being, about to open for the cylinder suction stroke. Piston I26 is at the top of its cylinder compression stroke with inlet ports H0 and ill just closed. The crankcase inlet port I30 has been i open during the upward, or outward, movement of the pistons.and is about to be closed by the disc I". a Figure 7 shows piston I20 at the bottom of its said suction stroke, the exhaust ports being closed and the inlet ports being wide open and uncovered by the piston. The inward movement of both pistons has compressed the charge in the crankcasewhich is now admitted to the cylinder I01, the inlet ports in the other cylinder being closed on the power stroke and the: crankcase inlet port I30 being covered by the disc I33.

In Figure 8 the outward movementof the two pistons has just drawn a fresh charge into the crankcase through the uncovered port I30 which is about to be closed. The directions of the rotations of the various parts are indicated by arrowsin the several views,

While the cylinders are shown in opposed relation. in the two embodiments illustrated, it is of course appreciated that they may be disposed at various relative angles and may be in side-byside parallel relation. In any case, the relative crank angle for the two pistons is made such that they move outwardly and inwardly in unison so as to draw a double piston displacement volume of charge into the crankcase at each outward stroke to becompressed in thecrankcase by the simultaneous inward movement of both pistons on the return stroke, admission occurring in only one. cylinder at a time for alternate firing.

The principles of the invention mayv also be embodied in an engine of more than two cylinders. In such an engine, pairs of cylinders have pistons moving in unison in communication with a crankcase space which is common to the two cylinders, but isolated from. the rest of the crankcase, each such pair of cylinders then functioning in a cycl as previously described and each crankcase space having an individual intake passage. The two cylinders comprising each pair may be adjacent cylinders, or in' the case of a V or pancake engine they may lie opposite each other, one in each bank.

If desired, the herein described engine" cycle may be carried out with more than two cylinders in each group provided that the pistons in such group all move outwardly and inwardly in unison to alternately charge a' common crankcase space and compress the charge therein. Such an engine may be of various types such as in-line, V, pancake or radial. various other changes in the construction and arrangement may be-made, and certain features may be used without others, it being understood that all such modifications are included within thescope of the invention, the same being limited only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1 In a four cycle crankcase compression iriternal combustion engine cylinder, a plurality of exhaust ports in the head end of said cylinder, a plurality of intake ports in the crankcase end of said cylinder communicating with the crankcase space, a rotary sleeve valve in said cylinder, a plurality of exhaust ports in said sleeve arranged to simultaneously open and close said cylinder exhaust ports to establish an exhaust phase of operation, a plurality of intake ports in said sleeve arranged to simultaneously open and close said cylinder intake ports to establish an intake phase of operation, and a ring gear on said sleeve to rotate same crank discs carrying said crank throws, the walls of said crankcase closely surrounding said crank discs to limit the crankcase compression space substantially to the space re -quired' between said discs for connecting rod travel, and driving'means for said ring gears out jside of said crankcase compression space.

2. In a pancake type opposed cylinder four cycle crankcase compression internal combustion engine, a crankcase carryinga two throw crankshaft and a pairof cylin'ders having a plurality of exhaust ports in'the head end and a plurality of pairs oi'interconnected intake ports in they crankcase end of each cylinder, a rotary sleeve valve in each cylinder, a plurality of exhaust ports in each sleeve arranged to simultaneously open and close said cylinder exhaust ports to establish an exhaust phase of operation, a plurality of pairs of intake ports in each sleeve arranged to simultaneously open and close said cylinder intake ports to establish an intake phase of operation, a ring gear on each sleeve to rotate same to produce the successive phases of four cycle engine operation-crank discs carrying said crank throws, the walls of said crankcase closely surrounding said crank discs to limit the crankcase compression space substantially to the space required between said. discs for connecting rod travel, and driving means for said ring gears outside of said crankcase compression space.

3. In a pancake type opposed cylinder four cycle crankcase compression internal combustion engine, a crankcase carrying a two throw crankshaft and a. pair of cylinders a plurality of ex" haust ports in the head ends of said cylinders, a plurality of pairs of intake ports in the crankcase ends of saidcylinders communicating with the crankcase space, pistons in said cylinders ar-..

ranged to uncover all of said intake ports-at the crankcase ends of their strokes, rotary sleeve valve in said cylinders, a plurality of exhaust ports in said sleeves arranged to simultaneously open and close said cylinder exhaust ports, a plurality of pairs of intake ports in said sleeves arranged to simultaneously open and close said cylinder intake ports, ring gears on said sleeves to rotate same to time the exhaust and intake phases of operation of said cylinders for alternate firing in four cycle operation crank discs carrying said crank throws, the walls of said crankcase closely surrounding said crank discs to limit the crankcase compression space substantially to the space required between said discs for connecting rod travel, and driving means for said ring gears out side of said crankcase compression 'space. 4. In a pancake type opposed cylinder four cycle crankcase compression internal combustion engine, a two-throw crankshaft supported in a 0 pair of end bearings, a pair of crank throws on said crankshaft between said bearings carrying a pair of connecting rods in 180 degree relationship, crank disks on s'aidcrankshaft carrying said crank throws and lying iclosely adjacent opposite 4 asaaoo'r sides of said connecting rods, a pair of oppositely disposed cylinders aligned with said crank throws and having their inner ends closely adjacent said crank disks, rotary sleeve valves in said cylinders, a crankcase carrying said bearings and said cylinders and having end and side walls lying closely adjacent said disks whereby saidcrankcase volumeis substantially limited to the combined swept volume of said two connecting rods for maximum crankcase compression and driving means outside of said crankcase compression space for rotating said sleeve valves in timed relation for alternate'firing 01' said cylinders.

5. In a pancake type opposed cylinder four ing or said cylinders.

RALPH M. HEIN'IZ. 

